Arrow New Episode Review: 'The Brave and The Bold' Flash Crossover Brings Barry Allen to Starling City

Arrow continued Season 3 on Wednesday night with "The Brave and The Bold," the second part of the crossover with The Flash that began on the latter show on Tuesday night with "Flash vs. Arrow." The Arrow episode brought the Central City team to Oliver's home turf, and the hour was a home run just as The Flash was one night earlier.

For those of you who may have missed The Flash on Tuesday, my colleague Jorge Solis, who reviews the show weekly, has provided the following synopsis:

"In Part One, 'Flash vs. Arrow,' the Arrow team shows up to find clues about their mysterious boomerang, but Ollie reluctantly helps Barry (Grant Gustin) with his case. Their training ends abruptly when Barry falls under the metahuman, the Rainbow Raider's spell. After an epic fight, the Arrow knocks some sense back into the Flash.

Ollie discovers his father once knew Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), who creeps him out. In a chance meeting, Ollie discovers his former pregnant girlfriend living in Central City. He doesn't know she is secretly raising his son."

Now that you're all caught up, let's get to the review of "The Brave and The Bold."

The Flash brought in all the Arrow characters on Tuesday night but the episode still felt like The Flash. Arrow accomplished this same feat on Wednesday. Barry, Cisco and Caitlin all showed up in Starling City, but Arrow didn't suddenly turn into a lighter, sunnier place. In fact, the S.T.A.R. Labs crew was shocked by the amount of violence and dread over in Oliver's city.

This tonal shift for Team Flash brought up some of the best moments of the episode. Oliver starts to torture a man to get information on Captain Boomerang, which horrifies Barry and prompts him to quite literally ask Oliver what's wrong with him. He even matches Ollie by telling him that his own mother was killed in front of him, too, but he doesn't use that as an excuse to torture people.

In Part One of the crossover, Oliver helps Barry become a more effective hero. He trains him to become more aware of his surroundings. He proves to him that experience and strategy can outweigh power and speed. And he helps him to remember that he can inspire people. In short, he imparts wisdom.

So when Barry comes to Starling, he helps rekindle the light inside of Oliver that the Arrow had started to take away. It was a wonderful move on the writer's part to tie Barry's appearance into the overall season arc, and they pulled it off in a way that didn't feel shoehorned into the story for the sake of the crossover.

Barry, Central City and The Flash by nature are all lighter and more optimistic than their counterparts in green. Oliver has been struggling with darkness all season. He's convinced that Oliver Queen is fading away and that the Arrow is all that's left. But Barry wisely reminds him that the Arrow would not be here if Oliver Queen didn't have a light still inside him. He never would have made it through those five years away, through Malcolm Merlyn, and through Slade Wilson if he didn't have humanity in him. He would have succumbed to the darkness like the rest of them.

As for the plot of the episode itself, it was a superhero team-up at its finest. The villain hatched a scheme that required both heroes to thwart it; if Barry or Oliver were alone, then Captain Boomerang would have succeeded. But all of Team Arrow and Team Flash came together to stop him. And holy cow, Captain Boomerang was a badass fighter!

Both The Flash and Arrow will have their midseason finales next week, and both shows look incredibly strong coming out of this crossover. Here's hoping this is an annual occurrence (or twice a season, even) because these writers and actors absolutely smashed this thing out of the park.

Notes:

- As expected, Cisco was a highlight of this episode. His total geeking out about the Arrow Cave was great, as was Felicity's line: "We don't call it that."

- Barry has his own mannequin now in the Arrow Cave!

- And Oliver has a new costume!

- The episode ended with the Rocky III freeze frame finish. I want to be mad about this. I really do. But I can't.

- "Bart Allen, right? Didn't you get hit by a bus?"

- Captain Boomerang and Slade Wilson are now roommates on Lian Yu. This will not end well.

- Barry owning the Salmon Ladder was great, but Cisco's futile attempt to try it was even better.

- Roy: "My ex-girlfriend." Felicity: "Oliver's sister." Cisco: "So stay away then?"

What did you think of "The Brave and The Bold"? Let us know in the comments section.